That’s the Year

The Best of the Best Books List: 2013 Critics’ Top Picks

What do critics think are the year’s top books? No need to take our word for what to read or give—we’ve aggregated everyone’s lists (40 of them) to give you a ranked ultimate guide.

Every December, the Internet is flooded with year-end best of lists. As we do every year, we tabulated the critics’s lists—40 of them, including Book Beast’s own—tallying up how many times each book was cited as one of the year’s best. The consensus pick for fiction: George Saunder’s Tenth of December. For non-fiction: Jill Lepore’s Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin. Here’s the complete list: